8mo ago

NSFW Tag for drug use?

Hey guys, it was brought up in a report that NSFW tags should be applied to posts depicting drug use. What do you guys think? I could see it either way and thought you guys might like to weigh in on it. I personally don't find it particularly offensive but my work environments have never been the type to react strongly to something like this popping up on screen (I think they might be more upset about being on Lemmy at all). Currently there is no rule, and I am fine with that, unless feedback indicates the community would rather play it safe and require the NSFW flag.

88 comments

NSFW has typically been used for things that are visually disturbing, like gore and sexually explicit materials. Using it for ideas that aren't safe for work feels like it would devalue the tag.
- What about a person injecting themselves? I don't think anyone is necessarily complaining about smoking, but personally I don't exactly want to be seeing pictures of people injecting themselves or others, others especially, without any potential warning.
  
  You’re not going to get fired for looking, at work, at a picture of a person injecting themselves.
  That is the basis of the NSFW tag
  
  Insulin?
  
  I think you are on the right train of thought for this. A real person injecting themselves probably should be considered a NSFW image but a cartoon/meme character shouldn't be.
  Ideally we would have NSFW, NSFL, and something like NSFG (Not Safe For Grandma) tags.
  
  That possibly counts as gore, regardless of whether the drugs are recreational or medicinal. However, there will be exceptions.
  
  I'd count that as visually disturbing, in the same way an injury could be. I'd certainly wince at the sight of a needle being poked into someone.
  
  Maybe stick to Instagram
- The tag is for warning people browsing at work not to click... Using it to prevent someone from clicking on a post that would be unacceptable to read at the workplace is exactly what it's for
  It's not like it's censorship, it's just a warning tag.
  
  It also hasn't been used literally for a very long time.
- I would hazard a guess that this was brough up in reference to a meme on this board showing a close up of someone snorting a line of white powder. I can completely understand why that might not be considered suitable for all places and audiences.
  
  Possibly, but a workplace where even a joke about drug use would be an employment issue would be pretty unusual.
  
  Some people can’t drink at work, the double standards of people is hilarious.
  Looking at pictures of beer or people drinking is no different.

Would it be safe to look at, at work?
- I wanna know what jobs y'all have that simply being on Lemmy itself isn't NSFW.
  
  I'm thinking what about during your break etc, not just when you're on the clock.
  
  Grown up jobs.
  
  Computer stuff, WFH!
  Quick edit; when I’m in the office it’s totally okay to play on my phone as much as I want as long as I get my computing done!

My rule of tumb: if someone is walking by would they stop and backtrack and go "WTF are you looking at at work?!" if no then it's not NSFW. If it's just text it's not NSFW. ASCII art not withstanding.

The internet is NSFW. Tags can't fix stupid.

Text is never going to need the tag. To the contrary, if you're at work reading text posts, and it's tagged NSFW, it draws the eye more.
Tagging text posts would defeat the entire purpose of the tag in its useful purpose.
Drug use isn't NSFW anyway, not in images or text.
- What do you think the tag is for?
  People at work don't (shouldn't) click on NSFW-tagged content. If it draws your eye even more, then I assume you don't browse from work.
  How would it defeat the purpose to tag content that most workplaces would not be okay with? If you don't mind seeing the content, then the tag might entice you. People at work will recognize it and not click

No, depictions of drug use aren't nsfw. And if we start censoring it, why not also start censoring other relatively harmless concepts like depictions of weapons or cursewords? We don't want this, and trying to enforce it would add additional, unnecessary work to both you and the admins.

I appreciate the many voices here. It seems like consensus is that the tag is not needed as a general rule. I want to be clear, also, that the NSFW tag is not censorship, but also doesn't seem necessary either. Thank you guys for chiming in!

I think that would be a bit much.
- I say if you label something not safe for work because of a drug, then it must be for all drugs including caffeine. No talks about coffee at work, or doughnuts; get those added sugars out of here. Far more people die in America from heart issues than people from eating edible gummies. Why would you ban one and not the other.

I suspect that this may be partially a result of a recent post of mine that some may considered to be in bad taste. So this response is likely to be a bit biased.
For what it is worth, I considered tagging mine as NSFW but ultimately decided it was not necessary. I thought the image was very clearly a staged representation of drug use. Similar to how the Eric Andre meme is clearly a staged representation of murder. Further, there was no blood nor any indication of physical injury and I liked it to an image of somebody smoking pot or drinking to excess.
Do I think drug use alone require a NSFW tag? No.
Should drug coupled with blood, gore, physical injury, exploitation, etc? Possibly.

are we talking a joint? if so then it should apply to alcohol and cigarrettes. I can understand for injections. some folks are neddlephobes.
- The original question came up over snorting drugs through a rolled up C note but would also likely encompass shooting heroin or smoking meth/crack. But the consensus appears to be not to ask for an NSFW tag at this time. So that will be our stance unless you guys decide things are going too far and you want the tag included on posts with that sort of content.

When in doubt, use NSFW. I don't feel good when people make memes about crack or users because it directly affects me. I stopped following a community because of that. Thanks for asking anyway.
- I think this applies to a lot of things including memes that have any kind of adult theme like sex and violence

Well mate this tag is more useful to me around kids than in the office. Perhaps because I'm 100% wfh.
Anyways, I appreciate it also with gore images like certain Ukraine and Gaza pictures. So it's not just about work for me and others.
Now if we had a mandatory tag like this for politics I'd do the big brains meme and be soooo happy.
- Politics aren’t allowed in !memes. We do try to catch it when a political meme is posted.

If you can't show the list to your boss then it should be marked nsfw

Maybe we need a new tag:
\ ANFW absolutely necessary for work
- But seriously tho, yeah, NSFW in the absence of another more specific tag.
  Some people are recovering from addiction and stuff, good to give them a way to filter it out

I think it would be safer to have an NSFW tag, especially considering the different ways people use drugs and the various effects of it.

I think for issues like this it may be good to develop a practice of using the spoiler tag with a warning attached. This way it's up to the reader to decide if they want to read it and is flexible enough to cover all of the various use cases.

If it’s particularly gory maybe?? I don’t think so in general.
Isn’t NSFW for gore/erotica.
- It definitely is for those things, but in general it's meant to encompass things that would cause problems if a coworker or manager looked over your shoulder. Graphic depictions of illegal drug use is borderline which is why I wanted to ask the community how they felt about it.

While I personally have no issue with it being not censored, I could see it being difficult for people struggling with any sort of addiction or dependency issues. I understand not all of them are addicting chemically, but some get hooked mentally as well.

If you do drugs I would say that alcohol must be too, why one and not the other?
- Just censor everything- it’s the internet after all and someone will be offended
  
  An NSFW tag isn't censorship, it's a warning for people at WORK. if you don't use it for what it's for, that's not working people problems, that's your fault.
  
  You probably shouldn't doom scroll at work anyway.
- Drugs in general is an overreach, but personally I think someone actively using a needle should be flagged. Regardless of what the needle is used for.
  
  Public advertisements depict people getting vaccines and other shots. Thats a weird stance, when you could view that anywhere accidentally, not even online.
  Newspapers, news channels, etc, all depict pictures and videos of people getting vaccines.

88 comments